Rail mishaps curtailed, courtesy safety steps

This year, train accidents decreased from 29 to 15 during April-June in comparison to the corresponding period of 2016, an improvement of 48.3 per cent. “There is a focus on accident prevention measures with safety getting top billing. Railway Minister Suresh Prabhu had launched ‘mission zero accident’ in the Rail Budget 2016-17 for carrying out a special drive to curb mishaps,” said a senior Railway Ministry official.

Safety measures, including speedy track renewal, ultrasonic rail detection system and elimination of many unmanned level crossings have been undertaken to prevent rail accidents.The 2016-17 fiscal saw elimination of 1,503 unmanned level crossings and 484 manned level crossings by construction of road over-bridge and under-bridge, the official said. Since unmanned level crossings are responsible for maximum number of train accidents, the railways intends to eliminate them by 2020.